Killer couple who left obese daughter to die in squalor have sentences increased

Alun Titford and Sarah Lloyd-Jones have had their jail sentences increased to 10 years and eight years respectively (Picture: PA)

A couple who let their morbidly obese 16-year-old daughter die in 'unimaginable squalor' have had their jail sentences increased.

Kaylea Titford was forced to stay in horrific conditions at the family home in Newton, Wales.

Photos of her bedroom showed an infestation of fly larvae and maggots in her clothing and bedsheets.

A hoist used to lift the young girl into bed was covered in fly dirt and other excrement.

In March, Kaylea's father Alun Titford was jailed for seven years and six months, while her mother Sarah Lloyd-Jones was jailed for six years at Swansea Crown Court.

Today, the pair had their jail sentences increased at the Court of Appeal to 10 years and eight years respectively.

Lloyd-Jones watched by videolink from prison, but Titford was not present as their sentences were increased by Lord Justice Popplewell, sitting with Mrs Justice McGowan and His Honour Judge Bate.

Lord Justice Popplewell said: 'The circumstances can only be categorised as extreme, Kaylea was living in unimaginable squalor.'

William Emlyn Jones KC, representing the Attorney General's Office (AGO), said: 'By virtue of the combination of the duration of the neglect, the nature of the victim's prolonged suffering, the extent of the victim's vulnerability and absolute dependence on her parents for care, and ultimately, the appalling conditions in which she was left to live and ultimately die, this is an offence which falls into the definition of "extreme".'

Lloyd-Jones pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence last year but Kaylea's father denied the offence along with an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a child.

A jury later found the 45-year-old guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.

Asked during his evidence why he had let his daughter down so badly, the removals worker said: ‘I’m lazy.’

The court heard that Kaylea, who had spina bifida and used a wheelchair, died after suffering inflammation and infection from ulceration, arising from obesity and immobility.

She had attended Newtown High School, where she was described as ‘funny and chatty’ by staff, but did not return following the coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.

Titford, who had six children with Lloyd-Jones, said the family would order takeaways four or five nights a week and he thought Kaylea had put on two or three stone since March.

The prosecution alleged that the schoolgirl had not used her wheelchair, which became too small for her, since the start of lockdown.

Emergency service workers, who were called to the house after she was found dead on October 10, 2020 described feeling sick due to a ‘rotting’ smell in her room.

She was found dead in her 'severely soiled' bed at the family home (Picture: Wales News Service)

Credit: metro